Interesting article (Olmsted – 2010) on the real estate market from the USA Today. It’s interesting to note that Charlottesville has always attracted the listed particular type of folks as outlined below, though the main group I would say would be families…I would be partial but it is certainly one of the best places in the U.S. to raise a family.

“We also get a lot of buyers from Florida who come in the hot months. For a town this size (40,000), we have great restaurants, great health care, a temperate climate and a pedestrian-friendly downtown,” Mailloux says. “It’s a big golf and retirement community, and we are surrounded with beautiful horse country and one of the nation’s most scenic highways (State Route 231). We have 21 wineries within a 45-minute drive.”

Architecture has been important here since Jeffersonian times, and another building Jefferson helped design is now part of the clubhouse at Farmington, a longstanding golf community. At the newer end of the spectrum, another top golf community, Keswick Hall, is offering homes designed by architect Robert A.M. Stern. The return-to-downtown movement is happening here, too, and the area around UVA is sprouting new condos and attracting second-home buyers.

A look at three Charlottesville neighborhoods

• Keswick Estate. Keswick is a historic district just east of downtown and close to Monticello. The biggest draw is Keswick Hall, a 600-acre gated community that is home to the Keswick Club with an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, an Orient Express hotel, and the Estates at Keswick Hall, 124 home sites ranging from 2 to 8 acres. The first two phases have been built, and the third and final phase includes 39 sites with Robert A.M. Stern designs available. Lots start at $345,000, with existing residences from $900,000 to nearly $5 million.

• Downtown. Anchored by a large pedestrian mall and walking distance of the University of Virginia, downtown is suddenly hot, with many new condos to choose from. “New condos are attracting a demographic looking to spend under $500,000,” Mailloux says. “You could be in a two-bedroom condo, and walk to both downtown and UVA, for $250,000 to $300,000. The Gleason is a new building offering condos from $300,000 to $800,000.”

• Ednam. “This is probably the most popular second-home area right now, with everything from condos and townhomes to detached single family homes,” says Mailloux. Located just west of downtown, it is a large, non-gated master-planned community that is completely built-out and well-established. One appeal for second-home buyers is that maintenance fees include “everything down to the landscaping and lawn care,” with about 150 houses and condos from $500,000 to $1.2 million.

Courtesy of Better Homes & Garden Real Estate III

Courtesy of The Estates at Keswick Hall

ON THE MARKET

Midrange price: $635,000

This condominium was built in 1987 and is located in the master-planned Ednam community just west of downtown.